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Breastfeeding ads break stigma

'Extended' feeding promoted

Breastfeeding is not just for newborns, Health Canada poster on Facebook

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A year after Time magazine put a provocative picture of a mother breastfeeding her three-year-old son on its cover under the headline "Are You Mom Enough?", Health Canada has waded into similar territory with a promotional poster that is getting a very different response.

The online poster, which includes a photo of a mother breastfeeding a toddler with the heading "Breastfeeding is not just for newborns," is being applauded by breastfeeding support groups, health promotion agencies and parents for helping to normalize extended breastfeeding, something that is viewed by some as controversial or even disgusting.

Time's 2012 cover photo, to accompany a story about attachment parenting, caused an uproar, including charges it sexualized breastfeeding.

Health Canada's poster, which was placed on the Healthy Canadians Facebook page on Oct. 1 to mark World Breastfeeding Week, quickly went viral. Though there has been some negative response, the reaction has been largely positive.

"Thank you so much for this ad," wrote one of hundreds of commentators on the Healthy Canadians Facebook page.

"It is showing up all over the international breastfeeding forums I read and is making me feel especially proud to be Canadian."

Fiona Audy, chair of La Leche League Canada, said the poster should help to normalize the breastfeeding of older children. "I think Health Canada is working toward creating a climate in which breastfeeding is the norm and that images of breastfeeding beyond the newborn stage are something that people start to see and don't look twice at," she said.

"It is helpful for mothers who are nursing babies to see images and not feel they are doing something unusual and also for people around that mother to realize this is a normal thing. It helps create a community mindset in which this is the norm."

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose said family, friends, health workers and community leaders all play a role in supporting mothers to breastfeed. "When a mother feels supported, she is more likely to feel confident with her choice to breastfeed."

In a statement for World Breastfeeding Week, Ambrose also noted that it is "important to respect the needs of mothers who may choose not to breastfeed.

"All mothers have the right to feel valued, regardless of how they decide to feed their baby."

Health Canada follows World Health Organizations guidelines which recommend breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of a baby's life and then continuing, along with other foods, until age two or beyond for optimum health.

The vast majority of Canadian mothers initiate breastfeeding, but the numbers quickly drop offin the weeks and months after birth. In Ottawa, which has higher than average breastfeeding rates, 41 per cent of mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of their baby's life. More than 70 per cent breastfeed in addition to other forms of feeding for up to six months.

Audy said she believes that more Canadian mothers are breastfeeding their toddlers, especially since year-long maternity leave became available in the 1990s, but some mothers still feel stigmatized if they do so in public.

Provincial and local health systems have become increasingly supportive of breastfeeding in recent years to increase rates.

Ottawa Public Health has matched close to 100 new mothers with breastfeeding "buddies" to offer advice and support. And the Ontario government just announced a 24/7 telephone support service for breastfeeding mothers.

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